TIRANA, Feb. 10 – Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Kontandin Xhuvani, 25, who is accused for the death of four people at a shootout at a nightclub in Albania last November.
Xhuvani has asked for ten days to prepare his defense, which means the next session is expected to be held by Feb. 23. But he has already agreed to a speedy trial, pleaded guilty and made a deal with a court that makes it likely he will serve 25 years, and not live the rest of his life behind bars, the highest penalty under the country’s laws.
The violence at the Ante Grand club in Tirana occurred Nov. 4 when Xhuvani killed three Albanian men and a 60-year-old Italian man over a petty argument. Two other men were hospitalized with injuries. The shootout followed a quarrel at the club, which is located on the ground floor of an apartment block less than 100 meters from the U.S. Embassy.
Soon afterward, his mother, Luiza Xhuvani, 50, an Albanian film star and governing Socialist party lawmaker, announced her resignation from Parliament at a news conference held with Prime Minister Edi Rama.
